Categories

DJ School

A few months ago, I decided I was going to learn how to DJ. Yeah, just like all the other people I have mocked for years for not being content with being a copywriter/strategist/bartender/fill in whatever you do here. Unlike those slashies who annoy me, I didn’t want to DJ so I could get into gigs for free or to be deemed cool or to get girls to notice me – hehe.

Toni Morrison (or someone iconic like that) has said she started writing because no one was putting out anything she wanted to read. Now, of course I am paraphrasing but that’s how I felt about DJs too. Anyone can play Montel or Zhane or Slum Village and get a crowd excited. What I wanted to hear was some Teedra, some Teyana, some Toni. Heck, I desperately wanted to hear Moneoa in a club.

But no one plays r&b in Johannesburg. Unless it’s under the “90s” theme – read: the same eight tracks. So, like Ms Morrison (or someone), I wanted to play r&b because no one was spinning what I wanted to hear. The plan was to learn the technical aspect and play for friends and other lovers of r&b that isn’t just confined to “90s” at someone’s house every once in a while.

And many people who know about my plan thought it was ultra-weird or just laughed but I’m holding onto one hope: I can’t be the only person in this province who wants to be at a party where this music is king. Who knows, maybe you’ll catch me on a line-up that includes Wilson B Nkosi at Bhudaza or some venue you only hear about on the radio. Or maybe I’ll make my boyfriend and my brothers some mixtapes and call it a day.